While trying to think of something for this challenge, an egg cracking open with light coming out kept coming into my mind. I tried several ways to make this happen, flashlights, etc. Finally did it this way:
Carefully made a hole in the bottom of an egg and cleaned out the inside and rinsed out with water. Made several smaller holes in the upper part of the egg and very, very gently squeezed the egg to make the cracks appear. I then took an empty wine bottle, a birthday candle, and a small piece of fresh bread. I made a small ball out of the bread, stuck the bottom of the birthday candle into the bread, stuck the ball of bread into the mouth of the bottle, turned off all of the lights, and lit the candle, slid the opening in the bottom of the egg over the candle and balanced the egg. I didn't get it right the first few times :-), it took some patience. It also burned the egg shell, you can see the dark band around the top of the shell in the photo. It filled my house with a pretty nasty odor. Whoops....
Post-processing: Cloned out a small area on the right that had some light showing up on a door in the background, cloned out a small portion of the top of the wine bottle; USM; the small area on top of the egg was so bright, I decided to add the Light Rays (PaintShop Pro 8); cropped slightly; resized for challenge; ran through NeatImage to smooth up a little bit.
Disqualification Details
Cloning, dodging, burning, etc. to improve your photo or remove imperfections or minor distracting elements, etc. is acceptable. However, using any editing tools to duplicate, create, or move major elements of your photograph is not permitted.
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Views since voting: 1561 Views during voting: 442 Comments: 28 Favorites: 1 (view)
You're probably hearing this a lot, but this HAS to be one of the top 3, if not the top spot. It's truly an amazing photograph that conveys the challenge topic beautifully! 10
I really like this image. My highest scored in this challenge for sure! This is a good example of taking common objects and making them feel foreign almost. The lighting used is great. Great work!
Excellent work. Really well done. 9 - Bumping it up to 10. I'm reminded of the movie "Alien" (as I'm sure others are as well). I'd love to know how you accomplished this effect.
your little rays of light are absolutely fantastic. i'm guessing the dark area was a necessary outcome of the lightsource? wish it had the same coloring as the rest of the egg
Beautifully done. Right out of the Alien movie tradition. One of only a few that lived up to the spirit of the challenge this week. Great job, feels like a ribbon contender to me. I hope your comments will tell us how you did it!
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